we have 2 tv’s in separate rooms fed by a cheap booster box. both have a digtal/freeview hard drive recorder connected. Basically because of intermittent poor reception we’ve been fiddling with the connectors etc and eventually decided to run the main TV directly from the incoming aerial socket (which gives a good picture ) and leave the other one temporarily without a connection to the aerial .
Here is the mystery ….the TV which is no longer connected to the rooftop aerial still works and receives most of the digital freeview channels . the coaxial cable is still plugged in to the back of the TV .
Can a length of coaxial cable act as a good digital aerial on it’s own?
If not what else could be the explanation
thanks in advance
Bill who hasn’t posted for 2 yrs due to illness but is now back !!! 😀

If not what else could be the explanation

Is your house built on an Indian burial ground?, Does the TV still work if it is unplugged?, Does your dog bark at the TV?, Have you seen Poltergeist?.

If you answer 3 out of 4 then you are almost certainly doomed, don’t go near the swimming pool in your back garden and if i were you i’d take a chainsaw to that tree outside your window.

PS : Can’t help but welcome back anyway….not much has changed, same shite still goes on.

Yes, any cable can act as an aerial.

The price they charge for Aerials is shocking too for what it is. Often you find than most of it is not even connected to anything and just for show.

Yes.

Seen many TVs that work to a degree without a separate aerial

The price they charge for Aerials is shocking too for what it is. Often you find than most of it is not even connected to anything and just for show.

The bits that are “not even connected” and “just for show” are mainly directors, designed to funnel the signal to the dipole. Other useless 😉 bits, usually at the back of most yagi aerials are to shield the dipole from unwanted signals from a transmitter behind the aerial.

Yes. Once did a job where the TV didn’t even require a cable at all to pick up all (back then, analogue) channels!

yes it can. in a good reception area you may not need more than a couple of inch of coax in the back of the tv.

ton( selling aerials and amps and suff for the last 15yrs ).

So to be clear, it’s not how big it is, it’s what you do with it that counts.

YAY!

*makes note to not allow samuri anywhere near my TV*

Horrible vision of samurai standing behind a TV whilst exclaming See?…I told you I’d get a signal with it

I’ve heard he’s into db.

Digital TV is much easier to receive with a lower gain antenna because it is digitally modulated and the receiver/processor uses a DSP to filter and amplify the signal. The TV broadcasters how ever have made hay, and “turned down” pretty much all of the transmitter powers by a huge margin.

A perfect Co-axial cable shouldn’t be an antenna, because it should have a completely shielded signal line (the outside of the co-ax is (should be) at ground potential. But, most typical household co-ax isn’t perfect by a large margin, so just plugging in a length may be enough to deliver a high enough signal to noise ratio for the receiver to pull a valid signal out of the background noise floor.